that is fair and reasonable that this country is needed for a long time, so i look forward to the next ventured, making sure we do immigration reform. we will continue extending our hands to republicans and hope they will come to the table in good faith with the desire. senator durbin. >> so many times throughout the history of the united states it has taken the united states senate to resolve national challenges and to resolve the national debate. happened again tonight on the floor of the united states senate. more than 80 senators from both political parties stood up and ended this 15-day ordeal that has been suffered by the people of the united states of america, federal workers, and those who depend on their good service. i cannot describe to you the feeling on the floor during the course of these two votes. above partisanship, the

camaraderie, the french that was felt. it was such a relief. let's pray that this is just the beginning, and i think it is. i think there is determination here to take this bipartisanship even further. we have seen it during the course of this year with the comprehensive immigration bill, passage of the farm bill, and now the senate, a bipartisan senate rose to the occasion and wrote this deadlock and took the lead is to do it. fd into need to show that and hope that the speaker, the house of representatives, and other members as well will watch carefully as the american people react. watch carefully and understand their responsibility not to work with us in a bipartisan fashion to solve all problems. one of the saddest parts of today was to pick up the morning paper and read republican house members say we won this battle. honest to goodness, how can that possibly say that. this is not a win when it comes

to a loss of federal employees and the services across our country. we have to come up with real victories for the american people to help this economy move fording create jobs to solve the problems. i want to think harry reid and my colleagues. many take credit. the lion's share of the credit goes to this man. i cannot give over his determination, patients, and energy the wrath this. you will never know how much he put in to make this a success. and senator mcconnell stepped up to his partner. i'm happy for the senate tonight guy happy for the nation. let us make sure that this is just the beginning. >> well, thank you. today is not a happy day but a summer day. we finally achieve our goal, but frankly we ended up where we

started we said to do three things, from the government got payer bills and agree to negotiate. we started there and that is where we ended up. as a what the law does run them more, no less. the bottom line is million suffered, millions did not get paychecks. the economy was tracked down, and confidence and faith in the united states credit and in the united states itself around the world was shaken. so this is not a happy day. it is a somber day. because at the end of the day we never should have gone through what we went through. we started here. we ended here. second point, there are three people that i think to a would like to praise.

i cannot do it enough. the first, of course, our leader, harry reid. he stood firm from the beginning. it was his resolve. we could not out to the kind of tactics that were being used by the small minority and the other side. he never buckled, flinched, doubt it. he gave strength to the rest of us. and the whole caucus was united behind him. second, i would like to praise the president. the president, again, and every time that we saw him, every time that we go with him, stalwart from the beginning realizing that the kind of tactics used by the other side and permitted to be used would be used again and again and again. finally my hat goes off to senator mcconnell. he is in a difficult situation politically. once he saw that the speaker and

the house for tied in a not he knew he had the obligation to step up, even if it might hurt him in his campaign. i respect that. i think every one of my democratic colleagues suspect that, and it is something that i will remember. final point. if they're is a silver lining in this great club it is the politics, the red -- reckless politics of brinksmanship has reached its peak. that is what we hope, and that is what i believe. it was shown that brinksmanship does not work if the other side will not given. when a small faction says that i am going to hurt a whole lot of people unless you given to me, the temptation of good hearted, good minded people is to give in because innocent people being hurt.

unfortunately if we gave in this time we would be back doing the same thing next quarter and the quarter after that and the quarter after that, and the brinksmanship would get worse, the kind of politics with it put a gun to your head and say no as you do what i want to do and going to hurt all what people. and yet tonight in the senate and hopefully in the house a large group of the other party for the first time stood up to the bench the chip. and it is our hope, indeed of prayer that that brinksmanship has reached its peak and that we can go back to the normal way of legislating. every side compromises and produces a product of is good for the american people. i am hopeful that can start in the budget negotiations which will start immediately.

i am hopeful it can occur in the house and immigration, and i am hopeful it can occur in both bodies on the major issues facing us. if brinksmanship has peaked commit the kind of politics we have unfortunately witnessed of the last several years receive the politics of pawlenty and compromise starts rising, then maybe these awful three weeks with him and with the. >> senator murray. >> well, tonight i am delighted to join this team who has worked so hard. my hat is off to the senator for is tremendous work in passion as well as my fellow senators and never gave up, set up for our families and tina these that are hurting the reason that we join with all of them reading a sigh of relief. took far too long, for too many families were hurt while we worked to end this crisis, but there is finally landed in the tunnel. here in the senate democrats and

republicans work together on a path of this crisis. does not solve every problem today, but the path we are on on the open the government, take the threat of default of the table and allow democrats and republicans to no good in a room and negotiate with an asking the american people to pay the price i am very glad personally and after six months of going on the floor time and time again and asking to go to a budget conference 21 times before this we are finally now in an agreement to work toward a bipartisan budget negotiation. the budget that passed the house and the senate six months ago are very different. there is no doubt about it. no one thinks it will be easy to get to the deal, but i will tell you, i would not have fought so hard for so long to get in a room with the chairman if i did not think that we could find common ground and work something out. and no the democrats are willing to compromise to get a deal, and

i am up for republicans will as well to beat out of public is have seen the consequences of a government shut down, i don't think that there will be anxious to repeat this again. now that it is clear that the debt limit will be raised and cannot be used to extract political concessions to any future threat will ring hollow. if we know head into the next phase, the budget conference and an actual negotiation, we will have a negotiation, not a hostage situation. another our budget changes republicans want and budget changes that we want, and i think we can now work together toward deal that solves these problems from both sides. in that think for all of us, most importantly stop watching from crisis to crisis. i am proud of the senate tonight for working together and standing up to end the pain of the american people and go to work on a bipartisan negotiation and we will finally do exactly what we said all along, and the

government, pay our bills, and then sit down and negotiate. >> not too many questions answered tonight. i want to go watch the ball game. >> and appropriations anomaly in this bill, the ohio river contiguous with illinois. can you explain why? >> i did not ask that. >> senator feinstein. >> okay, everybody. i thought this might come. this is not an earmarked. it saves the taxpayers a lot of money. it enables the corps of engineers to continue a project. had we not done this so-called anomaly the corps of engineers would have to stand before the last day of december $80 million to stop the project. it has been ongoing since 1988.

the purpose of it is to construct blocks in the dam that was initiated in the 1930's as a replacement. so there is no need to point fingers at anyone other than we save the taxpayers tonight about $80 billion. it does nothing to run of the deficit. it might save the government money. to answer your question? >> did very well. >> what is your expectation? >> i asked chairman ryan to meet with me tomorrow morning to have breakfast and start to begin some conversations about how we move forward from here. >> your going to have breakfast? >> no, no, we are not. [laughter] >> okay.

[silence] >> and the house right now is wrapping up a final vote on reopening the government and raising the debt limit. this is after the senate approved the measure tonight 81- 18. after the senate bill president obama came to the white house briefing room saying that he would sign the bill immediately once the house passes it. >> good evening, everybody. tonight republicans and democrats in congress have come together around an agreement that we will reopen the government and remove the threat of default from our economy. the senate has now voted to approve this agreement, and democrats in a row because in the house still have an important vote to take. want to thank the leaders of both parties for getting us to this point.

once this agreement arrives on my desk i will sign it immediately, begin reopening our government immediately and we can begin to lift this cloud of uncertainty and unease from business and the american people all have more to say about this tomorrow. i have some thoughts about how we can afford and stay focused on the job at hand. there is lot of work ahead of us including a varney turn back the trust of the american people that has been lost to the last few weeks, and we can begin to do that by addressing the real issues that they care about. ..

>> we are convinced that democrats and republicans can work together for america. there are things that we know will help strengthen the economy that we can get done before the year is up. we still need to fix our broken immigration system and we still need to pass a farm bill and with the shutdown behind us and budget committees forming, and we now have an opportunity to focus on a sensible budget that is responsible and that helps hard-working people all over this country and we could get all over this country many things done. including how we will move this country forward and for the last three weeks behind us.

not a focus on politics, not a focus on elections, but we will put a focus on the concrete steps and that will be my focus and i am looking forward to congress doing the same. once again i would like to thank the leadership for coming together and getting this done. hopefully next time it won't be in the 11th hour. we have to get out of the habit of governing by crisis and i hope and expectation and there is no reason why we can't work on the issues at hand. and we are making sure that we are not inflicting harm on the american people and hopefully that will be internalized not just by democrats and republican

leaders as well. >> isn't happening. >> the last votes are being cast in the house, but the house has approved and as we just heard, president obama plans to sign the bill immediately. at 10:30 p.m. tomorrow morning in the state dining room. former defense secretary leon panetta called on congress to address the national debt at a news conference today. it is being hosted after a senate deal was announced tonight.

homologue. >> good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. at this time i would like to introduce maia mcginnis, who is the president of the committee for responsible federal budget. [applause] >> thank you so much, everybody. thank you for joining us today. this turns out to be an incredibly well-timed conference. on behalf of the six the debt, it is a nationwide coalition made up of citizens, business leaders, civic leaders, with the purpose of trying to, in a bipartisan way, focused national attention on the need and a push for a comprehensive debt deal that will help deal with the fiscal challenges. today is obviously an important date it appears as though we have a real plan put in place that would deal with opening the

government and lifting the debt ceiling and putting in place a budget process to help focus on those discussions. we have today with us incredibly untracked incredible gathering of people at the state of play where we are and what we want to focus on going forward from a really diverse group of people with diverse perspectives. we are coming together to work on these issue. i think what we have seen is a model in this country has been lurching from crisis to crisis. going forward, it will be critically important in a we need to focus on. this includes replacing the sequester with smarter cuts

starting real negotiations and solving the problem. i'm really thrilled to be able to introduce secretary leon panetta who has helped so many important roles. he has held many important roles, most recently instrumental roles in government negotiation and he is going to kick off this whole discussion and talk to us from his perspective about all of these issues. thank you for joining us. [applause] >> thank you for your great work, ladies and gentlemen. thank you for participating in this effort to try to put this country back on the right track. we hope later today by the actions by the house and the senate, that they can bring a shameful and tragic period in our history to anand.

it is hard to believe that what has happened has been not the result of an economic crisis as a result of war, but a self-inflicted wound by people who frankly swear to make sure that they will do everything to protect and defend the constitution of this country. seventeen years ago we went through a similar shutdown with president clinton. at the time, i thought that there were two lessons that were learned by that experience. one is that you do not take the step that hurt the american people. innocent american people by

shutting the government down. it makes no sense. it makes no sense to use that weapon against your constituents and the people in office. and ultimately the lesson that came out of that better the government rather than to create gridlock. and to shut the government down. and that was the case. seventeen years later lessons still apply. and it makes no sense to shut the government down and to hurt this country and hurt innocent people, kids and nutrition assistance and families are trying to meet their deaths at the end of the month, putting people out of work. threatening individuals in terms

of the terms of their quality of life in a makes no sense to do that. the economy has been through some rough times and also hurting our national defense. from my own experience, a combination of sequester and shutdown has hurt our national defense. not only some very important elements of our defense been put on hold and we have 12 combat squadrons that have been grounded and half of our air force planes and, in turn, things are not ready for combat.

we have ships that are not being deployed, mean if it is not done, we are virtually following our military. at a very important time when we face threats abroad in this country, this is still a dangerous world that we live in. the shutdown on top of that, the furloughs, the impact it has on the men and women in the defense department is inexcusable. in terms of protecting this country. it hurts america and americans in the hope is that everyone learns the second lesson. to roll up their sleeves and to get to work. and the place that they should be is in a budget conference. working on the key issues that they need to address if they are serious about reducing the deficit and putting this country on the right path.

a budget conference that deals with entitlement and determines what reform can be achieved their and a conference that focuses on looking at the whole issue of discretionary spending and what should be the next five-year direction and we need to establish stability rather than as kick the can down the road mentality that we have been involved at. so what is our discretionary spending went to look like and looking at elements of tax reform and order some stuff that we can do to try to provide the balance and fairness that this country is all about. all of those things are important and this is the opportunity to do it. so my hope is that they will take advantage of this

opportunity to govern this country. it is a critical turning point. you can either be an america of renaissance with a strong economic cubberley, opportunities for everyone, strong middle-class in the opportunity to be created an innovative and provide good education to our kids and have a strong work force as we do and this can be part of the renaissance and the 21st century or we can be country in decline. we continue to be dysfunctional in terms of how we govern this country and operate crisis after crisis. so what path we take will be determined about how we govern ourselves. in recent years, we govern this with leadership in the crisis

and if leadership is there we can avoid crisis. but we have to be willing to take the risk associated with it. if leadership is not there, make no mistake that we will operate by crisis and crisis will be part of this. there is a price to be paid and it will be losing the trust of the american people and our system of government. the time has now come to exercise leadership on all sides and the american people are probably the best example that all of us in elective office have our strength from. because the american people have some fundamental principles and values that they believe in, common sense in doing what is right, hard work, sacrifice and a willingness to do what they believe is necessary to give their children a better life. and i believe that i have seen

that with our men and women in uniform. our men and women are willing to put their lives on the line and they are willing to fight and to die in order to protect the united states of america and they are willing to protect its country, surely those should be willing to take the risks associated with the government in order to protect this country. and my hope is that they will engage in this to protect the government. >> thank you so much. i would like to introduce the former congressman of the budget committee, jim nussle. >> thank you.

baby i shouldn't even try to follow that, but i followed a few times, so both as chairman of the budget committee and omb and i'm proud of the tenure that the experience and dedication an example of public service has given us and i thank you for joining us at this important moment in this is not a proud moment for our country, even with the good news and we can all look forward to see this, one that is just as negative on jittery 13th and february 7 and 8 yet another crisis and stalemate and another that could prove just as damaging as the one that could be true and a path that has prevailed from experience and the whole is

greater than our country is more important than all of the little petty things that go on all of the time and i see former members of congress and leon panetta as well. all of us, from time to time, and maybe we said something or did something and at most junctures we were able to what we have seen as reckless and pick your poison, incompetent, it is based upon debates that are important and the role of government with an important national debate that we have

now. one that maybe were popular on one side or the other was certainly, anyone who has watched how a bill becomes a law by schoolhouse law, i'm just a bill on capitol hill. ..

we have an opportunity. today cooler heads to prevail. we have an opportunity to look for during these next to build month and say, we can put this process back together. both secretary panetta as chairman of the budget committee and myself of participated in these conference committees between the house and senate where budget negotiators come together and plot a path forward. messy, ugly, just as difficult as well we have seen, but that people are committed to the end result and if they will listen to organizations and campaigns such as we have assembled here today, we can give them some tools for that tool box as they go and to try and build that

consensus. there are many good examples of that here today. put together as an organization or a campaign that believes that tax reform ought to be on the table certainly. entitlement reform these to be there. sequestration is a crazy way to run the compass -- government. looking at bofa annual as well as automatic spending needs to put on the table. the focus needs to be a long term, not february 7th, not january 15th, but how about 2020 and 2025 and when our kids and grandkids have to look at some of this debt into our i which is the reason we focused on the debt. most in a bipartisan might can say fixing the debt has got to be the ultimate goal. everything else, we will have those fights and disagreements. no one, even in this campaign is going to agree 100 percent of

the time, but we have partners here today that i want to invite forward to give a little bit of their perspective on this as an example. a group of former members, some of them here today. in a bipartisan way have met on the outside on a regular basis to talk about ways that they can influence our former colleagues on a path forward. we have had a wednesday morning where we call that says, we get together over breakfast and talk about ways that our organizations can work together and stay together in focusing attention on this very important mission. so we have invited a couple of those partners to come here today and to give us some of those dots. i would like to invite a few of them forward here today. first of all, i would like to a invite the president and ceo of the u.s. hispanic chamber of commerce to come forward and provide his perspective. >> thank you.

>> good afternoon. on behalf of the united states hispanic chamber of commerce i would like to thank the team that fix the debt for organizing this press conference. they're present over 3 million hispanic owned businesses that together contribute more than $460 billion to the american economy every year. we also advocate on behalf of 206 major american corporations and do this through our network of 200 local chambers and business associations throughout the nation. while the u.s. represents the interests of business when it -- businessmen and women who happen to be of his best to send in never forget we are first and foremost american businesses. every tax bill that we pay, every job we create a matter of pride remanufacture and every single service we provide this to benefit our american economy. as one of the nation's largest business organizations, our members primary concern is the health and prosperity of our

economy. all businesses are directly influenced by a stable political climate and the state of any economy. our american people understand that we must work together to sustain the growth of our businesses, the security of our jobs to amend the full faith and credit of the united states. everyone from main street to wall street knows that the weight of the american economy rests on the shoulders of our elected officials. we are asking them to put the common good of our country before political partisanship and self-interest. how deeply as our nation's sunk into the trenches of partisan politics that not only has the government of the strongest democracy in the world is shut down, but is now facing the threat of an unprecedented default which will jeopardize our standing as a global economic twitter. for the past years our congress has been plagued by divisive

politics that have reversed the recovery of our economy. this environment of brinksmanship has reached its boiling point, and the current threats of default are already resonating in creating signs of uncertainty in national and international markets. consumer confidence is now at an all-time low while interest rates continue to climb. and the ongoing gridlock is estimated to cost taxpayers almost $19 billion in extra interest. even foreign debt holders are demanding more collateral due to the uncertainty on whether america can even meet its financial obligations. a substantial segment of the u.s. does business abroad and is deeply impacted by both the health of our national and the international economy. it is a secret that if congress allows the nest is to default on its debt the economic

consequences would be nothing short of catastrophic. what happens in the united states is not only affect our nation. it impacts all of the countries that rely on the stability in the well-being of our american economy. recently mexico and brazil, the two largest economies in latin america and two very important trading partners solve there currencies lose value simply because of america's threat of the default. chinese officials have urged the u.s. to avoid a debt crisis for the sake of the global economy. just last week the international monetary fund warned of a worldwide shock that would result from the united states defaulting and stated that it is critical for our country, especially its elected officials to prevent a looming crisis that would put the global economy at risk. the american people, our economy, and quite frankly the world is hoping for better news from washington.

the u.s. atc stands with their friends at fix the debt, secretary panetta, former omb director jim muscle, and all of the other organizations assembled here. we'll call on congress to raise our nation's debt ceiling and avoid this default. we urged congress to put an end to the house to our climate of uncertainty and brinksmanship. it is time to move our country forward, not jeopardize the hard work and the progress the we have all made to get. at the end of the day elected officials like our business community have a stake in preserving our free-market economy and our american way of life. negotiations, whether motivated by profit or politics achieve the highest possible success will recognize that cooperation works much better than conflict and that the solidarity was always out last desolation and differences to not away our common interest.

thank you very much. >> next we will hear from ian kramer, is it your director of leaders engaged on alzheimer's disease. >> thank you, chairman. thank you for the opportunity to be here today. this is not a happy day. this is a day where we all sigh in relief that the circular firing squad said ready, aim, and then held its breath. and this crisis is not over. all it is is delayed. the guns are still pointed. and the real tragedy is that the harm that could be done by default, the harm that has been done by the government shut down and the harm that continues to be done by sequester is not suffered by those to impose upon us. it is suffered by those that the victimized, and that is the american people, as has been stated before. and while we are relieved that we have not defaulted and while we are relieved that the government shut down appears to be near its and, hopefully not to resurface, sequestration

continues to be away on our economy and the more important to wait around the necks of the american people desperately need our government to function and for a long-term solution to be found that keeps them out of this sort of day today jeopardy about whether the programs and services upon which to depend and for which they pay will or will not be there in that time of need. and so i am going to focus primarily on sequestration. we know that it is to an annual this is a bad medicine, not only what has happened so far but what could happen over the next nine budget cycles of we don't fix it, fix it now, and fix it once and for all. if you want to understand what sequestration means for pursuing our own clearly identified and carefully planned national agenda, i would offer you just one example of many, and that is the crisis around alzheimer's for 5 million americans to have the disease, their care givers, and if we do not proceed with

the science we need over 13 americans who have alzheimer's and roll over 40 million americans will be their care givers and less than two generations. currently dementia cost the american people over 200 billion per year just for caregiving and we invest a paltry roughly 500 million in trying to arrest the disease or reverse its tide. it is a ridiculously small investment, and it is one that sequestration and roads. so who agrees that we have to take more dramatic steps to fight alzheimer's, to invest in the science the will provide as a catalyst to reverse the trajectory of this disease? well, i will tell you. it is president obama and n.i.h. director francis collins but also house majority leader eric cantor, house to party caucus under michele bachmann and former house speaker newt gingrich joined and determination to initiate alzheimer's research funding by

it several senators, in fact, the entire congress, every last member of congress have voted unanimously about two years ago to about the national alzheimer's project act and create the first ever national plan to address alzheimer's disease which has in its most recent update a consensus plan, and business plan to stop and effectively prevent alzheimer's by the year 2025, but that plan depends upon scientific investment that the sequester not only prevents from being increased but erodes the slight investment we already have. so who else is for that increased investments. i would argue the entire american people. the 5 million who live with this disease today, 15 million who are carriers today, and all the rest of the american population and live in fear of their family being struck next. he was against nih having the tools it needs to stop all summers? nobody. no one has come for and say that

they oppose those investments. so your commitment is shown by what you do what you choose not to do in sequestration is no accident but a choice. it was a choice from the first day began and remains a choice until we stop its ten year run of bad medicine. what stands in the wake of getting rid of sequestration. it is easier to what the secretary and the congressman and heavier spoke about, the well-to-do the work of the people rather than engage in political brinksmanship for self -- hopefully in their mind self-serving political gains. get rid of the sequestered and engage in long-term serious budget planning that reduces the burdens of cost from care and invest in innovation which is

the driver of our economy. so i would say, do not isolate alzheimer's as the reason to get rid of sequestration. look across the government at all the good that all of these members of congress vote for issue by issue and then save their undermining their own good intentions by their actions and sources to allow sequestration to remain in place. thank you. next we will hear from time mccracken the president of the national small business association. >> i can add a great deal to the exxon opening statements of secretary panetta. i represented the small business community. for us all of this create a crisis of confidence the threat of reaching the debt limit and the ongoing brinksmanship, you

have to ask yourself. as folks is always sought to of all the time. you were about to make an investment, open a business does not it requires to rest your economic future, home, life savings, is this the moment time you would choose to do that? would you have enough confidence that our leaders will put in place the frame work? i submit to you if the answer is no in most instances and is why this is so crucially important. small businesses, startups of the place. he will grow our way out of this mess. our leaders in washington media those folks are reason to believe in the future of this country. that means putting aside petty grievances and getting to some real long-term deals because as has already been mentioned these issues are just that, short term issues. the real issues of the long-term debt, and we hope that our leaders will grab this opportunity in the coming couple of months to sit down and talk seriously about how to put your differences aside and get the country on the right framework

where we all, invested in economic features can have confidence and move forward. >> let me invite forward hunter rawlings. >> thank you very much. thank you to fix the debt and to secretary panetta for this occasion. i want to be very brief which is always its balance, but i will succeed in that. we have the best research university in the world by a wide margin. we have the best innovation system and the oral. but those are now jeopardized. those universities and that innovation system are jeopardized by the continuing problem here in washington. this is not the days problem, not this week's problem, not the

sequesters problem, it is the budget problem overall because, as was just said, members of congress did not focus against research. they let cuts happen because of what is now in place. the budget that is constantly taking money away from research and innovation and putting it in hands of old people like me. the reason we have the best research universities in the world is that for some 70 years now the federal government has invested heavily in research, competitively awarded research grants which the of the faculty members at the university of michigan, virginia, harvard, stanford, and all the other great universities in this country ikaria research, what is the result of that? a great innovation system, and economists now knowledge that 60% or more of u.s. economic

growth of the past few decades is based on innovation. in a huge percentage of that innovation is done in research labs and our universities because business, for the most part and has stopped doing fundamental research. has to be focused on the bottom line. so it no longer invests in fundamental research. fundamental research is instead carried out in our nation's universities. well, china has noticed that and is now investing heavily in creating great research universities. we are disinvesting at the same time. and so we're rapidly creating an innovation deficit. the innovation deficit long term is just as important as the budget deficit. but what is says is we will lose our advantage and someone else will give which will then determine economic success in the future.

we just won a bunch of nobel prizes this weekend last. most of those prizes, as has been the case for some time now, are awarded to american researchers and frankly to researchers born in other countries pinot work at our universities. how much longer is that going to go on if we continue the innovation deficit and is investing in research and other countries that have seen as their long-term goal. we need to fix this problem and fix it quickly and stop the crisis management and get on to thinking about the long-term investments, the only thing that will lead to long-term success for this country. thank you. the president and ceo of research america. >> thank you.

everyone who has spoken already. research america is an alliance of patient groups, academic institutions, business and industry, and scientific and medical societies. well over 100 million americans represented, and we all believe that research for health in the entire research and innovation ecosystem should return to being our number one american priority sequestration and the shutdown have truly wreaked havoc on american science overall which includes medical research and the nation's public health capacity. researchers of and for love or laid off. scientists are not receiving grants for innovative studies, and they are rethinking their career options.

suppliers and other businesses are downsizing. the cdc is blindsided by food borne illnesses canal bridge that they are not staffed at this point to control. the department of defense is happened in its conindct of medical research to benefit our wounded warriors and protect our men and women overseas. that list goes on. that is today's list. i really shudder to think about the long-term risk, the rest of the prioritizing research and innovation. as center mentioned, of the nation's i'm not just sitting idly by. there activate -- actively picks wedding our failure to prioritize research and innovation and in awedition to china in tech singapore, india, sweden, germany, in the u.k. to name a few. national ppulidcopinion polls

commissioned by research america show that more than half of americans do not believe that the u.s. will be a world leader in science and technology by the year 2020. that is just over six years from now, and unfortunately americans might be right about that loss of, but they do not like it. for instance, an overwhelming majority, 90 percent, say it is important that the united states maintains its world in medical research and science overall. our elected officials listening to the constituents, listening to the conceturs of americans? i would argue that in this recent time they have not. yes, we must reduce the deficit. we must fix the budget. cutting funding for medical and health research and other domestic discretionary priorities is counterproductive to solving the problems that we

talk about all the time and bring our hands about like controlling health care cost. diseases and disabilities are not going to cure themselves or be prevented oveturcansmig. research that is a deficit reduction strategy, public heafor hh readiness is a deficit reindction strategy. why we squandering those solutions. nofrom president knows, congress knows that there is way to fix the budget, and it involves tax and intel now reform. we need smart tax and intel now reform that d gos not undermine 's pblic or private sector medil innovation. in to give you just one example, get.ts to pred sription reimbursement would undermine innovation. prescription drugs prevent hospitalization, alleviate disability and represent only a m.all fraction of heafor hh care

nnovaending. and foreshores sequestration has to go. no, we look to that conference copolittee, the budget conme ree copolittee to address sequestration and to eliminate it. we in the members of our alliance kendis -- will be speaking to members of that copolittee. starving the national institutes of health, national science foundation, and other catalysts of american innovation and medical progress simply contravenes common-sense and our nation's pronnovaects for econo3 stability going forward. medical progress should be an imwetable american prioritby in our polls commissioned by

research america, the majority of americans say they would pay more in taxes if they knew that would go toward medical research that is how important it is to americans. installing that research now through sittargstration or the kind of reform that again undermine something we have too long tancen for granted while other nations are ramping in up we will drag our nation down at the very moment we have everything that it takes to sort . the interest grothin, policymans are not listening to is the american public. and in the words that policy-mancers are ignoring at our peril is our nation's future. thank you. >> we do have time for questions. the unifying theme that you hear from this terrorist grothin is people want our leaders to govern. you want them to lead. it is time for them to stop ailrching from one crisis to

another and focus on some of the longer-term issargs. i think bpuble "erskine bowles to regularly says that we have made all the easy choices. we have made all the stupid choices, and now is time for this country to start mancing some of the real choices. we hear a lot of interest about just how important that is. i would be glad to turn questions over to a secretary and any of our speancers today. >> you have talked often about sequestration as a sign of these things. tolady's deal actually cements the cuts including for the foreseeable future. does that mean that it is a bad deal? >> the fundamental challenge was to do whatever was necessabou to end the shutout and government and extend the debt limit. this is a double epolby several years ago we were just

dealing with the cr. in the situation we have both that limit coming do as well as the funding for the government. the first thing that had to be done was to do whatever is necessary to try to end the shutdown and mixed in the dnd mt limit. i understand that a fcansmig cod have been done on sequester, number of other issargs having been in that institution and understanding the kind of politics you have to englte in order to get things done at the committee choice. once you get into the budget conference and deal with bcansgr issues the decisions you make will not only help in terre t of desa reduction and putting this country on the right path toward ending the deficit but also will end sittargstered. >> today on the floor that the

main accomplishment in the negotiation was securing the cuts on the budget control act. >> as has bkindn set and is to e repeated, there are no winners and losers. the american people have lost and now they nkindd to roll ung3 their sleeves and do what is rare for this country. >> that ppulications. my qargstion is this, the congressman on the secretary in the whatever comes out of the budget conme rence obviously there will be major changes in goveturment, the priority prpolbrare t. one group that seems to have gotten attacked is that federal em towoykinds there telves. there have been talk about further cuts in terms of pension

, pension changes in that sort of thing. but i am wondering is, do you think at this p pnt someonsind of continargd reductions in the continue changes in federal worker beny necessary as part of an agreement, do you think that given what has happened may be that we put it on the bt pk burner? ..

>> your point for not only government workers today, and we all know many of them, their friends and they are family. we also think about how we are going to lose a generation that we maybe have a loss lost a generation of public service that have watch this process over the last two or three or four years and you know, it just said forget it. why would i choose public service as a vocation when it should be -- it's an admirable calling. whether it is in political office or government service. so many good people that don't deserve to be used as pawns in this process. changes need to be made, those may affect many workers, but it shouldn't just be about that. everything should be on the table.

>> i guess that this would be for secretary panetta. is there any reason to extract the budget conference to be any more successful? and has anything changed? we still have the major sticking points but it doesn't seem to be doing anything crazy. >> this isn't going to be easy. the hard work, the kind of game plane playing that went on over the last few weeks with the shutdown and the debt limit and, you know, all of the threats that went on. we went through hard work that was to sit down and walk through the entitlements and determine what reforms need to be made and what savings need to be achieved their, look at the discretionary spending and try to lay out a tablet that and the tax reform. someone who was with me at the time that he sat down at the

andrews air force base and we're through that process. and we walked through all of the discretionary spending and then walked through the whole tax arena. we finally came to a bipartisan agreement and that was tough. it was not easy and it took courage. there are risks involved, risks on all parts. but that is what governing is all about. that is why we elect people. we don't elect people to simply survive in office. we elect people to make the tough choices governing in this country. and hopefully, having been through this experience of the shutdown and not increasing the debt limit, it will be a sufficient enough incentive for them to turn to the government now. >> sarah mcconnell was trying

behind the scenes to get a provision in a deal that emerged and it would give federal agencies more flexibility in dealing with the sequestration cuts as no one needs to tell you, they are arbitrarily across the board cuts and it's very difficult for the agency. how important without permission have been and how difficult is that for agency to have to deal with that arbitrarily? >> they designed the formula to be crazy. to basically do a cut across the board that was going to be so bad that we force them to do the right thing. that was the whole logic of why they develop sequestration. we obviously didn't have the courage to deal with sequestration, so sequestration went rampant. instead of playing with ideas as to how you create flexibility so

that you can move money around within the bounds of sequestration, i would rather than deal with the bigger issues in the budget and be able to understand sequestration and i would be in a more responsible approach. >> if you could get one thing from congress, would've the flexibility? >> right now they are sinking in quicksand and they will take whatever rope they can throw them at mr. secretary, i'm wondering if you could entertain answering the question of an unrelated topic and. >> that's a great question. >> the question is about what sort of institutional congressional reforms you prefer that they look ahead to these priorities in leon's answer to

this as well because we have both been through the ringer when it comes to considering budget process reform. and i think it's a little bit of this and i am someone, i'm the last person to have brought the budget process reform to the floor and actually had a chance of getting something passed. my reason for saying it that way is that there are some changes that could be made. but the problem over the last seven or eight or 10 years is that it hasn't been used. my advice to the committee on the budget when they held hearings about this was why don't you try it. try it first before you decide to reform it. you might find that it actually works if you respected it. if you adhere to the timetable. if you actually work together in a bipartisan way and in a bicameral way. so what this has an opportunity to do is to put that back on track. i'm not sure that it will, but

before someone blames the process, realized that this is a process created by human beings, that human beings -- as there are human beings that don't open their ears and start listening to one another and getting to know one another and realizing that just as an example, if i'm not mistaken that the president had in his budget this last year over $500 billion worth of entitlement reforms. now, i would bet that there are many republicans who don't even know that or are surprised by that and i would take that as a good starting point is a republican to say let's start there and bring ours to the table and work out our differences as well as her, no way. it starts by listening and recognizing that we are not that far apart on many of these issues if we bother to open up our ears and start blaming the process and really look into our own souls and hearts about what needs to be done.

>> just getting back to leadership and how this next round will be any different from the sum super committee or anything else. i'm wondering if you can describe what you think the white house can do to encourage the route rally want to go. you talked about this a little bit earlier this week. >> there are basic elements that are important to make these kind of budget process is worth it. first and foremost is restoring some trust in these peaceful don't trust each other. for a lot of reasons, some justified and others do not justify it. the problem is that you get into a room and you have to deal with tough issues coming up to trust the people that you are in the room with. but they will tell you what they say, but you will be honest and you will have that kind of exchange and that you're not going to suddenly walk out. that is the kind of atmosphere that you need to find.

one of trust. secondly for me really happy with put everything on the table. you can't say, you know, we are going to study this but were not going to do this. doesn't mean they are going to do everything, but you need to put everything on the table and go through it and talk about each of these programs. thirdly, when they work their way through it, they shouldn't agree on anything until they agree on something. wait until the end of the road to basically package the deal. lastly on the budget process, once you have put those pieces together, you decide how do you enforce it effectively. very frankly there are steps and we did it at andrews air force base that is the heart and soul not only of the bush budget that we pass with the agreement that was made and also the heart and soul of the clinton budget will

not would not pass. there were some very good elements. some things done with regard to the enforcement of limits and etc. those are very effective tools and they ought to be built into this process. so if this is going to work, then the members of their that have been beating each other up and we will decide to go into a room and really try to be honest. and i can't say it's going to happen. and the democrats and the republicans were involved in that conference. >> thank you. [inaudible conversations]

>> on the 16th day of the government shutdown. >> they are extending the government borrowing limit through thursday. the senate voted bipartisan and that cleared the way for the final 285 to 144 vote in the republican controlled house. federal agencies have been making plans to reopen the white house office of management and budget. today, the house resource committee has reviewed the closings of the government shutdown. this includes jonathan jarvis and officials from the national tourist association and the national parks association. this is five hours.

>> good evening. the committee will come to order. today we have a joint hearing of the committee on natural resources. the committee is called as difficult as possible, the implementation of government shutdown. and with the indulgence of the ranking member of the resources committee, the mission statement says that we exist to secure two fundamental principles. we have a right to know the money that washington takes is well spent. second, americans deserve an efficient and effective government that works on their behalf. and our duty on the government oversight committee is to protect these rights and our

solemn responsibility is to hold government accountable to taxpayers because taxpayers have a right to know that the money government takes from them as well spent. our responsibilities worked tirelessly in partnership with citizens and watchdog groups to deliver the facts to the american people and bring a genuine reform to the federal bureaucracy. this is our mission statement and during the government shutdown, more than ever we take that seriously. >> it is a steward of the most treasured public spaces and the caretaker of our national heritage. as such, it has always been called upon to act in the best interest of the american people. and to never allow itself to be subjected to political influence or to work in any way other than on behalf of the american people

and these treasured assets. yet it appears today that the park service leadership is no longer living up to that mandate. allow me to say that i support fully the funding of the national parks service for fiscal year 2013 levels in the appropriation bill that would reopen the parks and fully fund this as was passed on a bipartisan basis every republican member of both of these parties did vote for the legislation. i understand that the confrontational time in which issues, and the park service and its assets, are being argued. we are not here to argue that today but to discover whether or not the park service has met its legal obligation on one hand

under the lack of an appropriations bill. and on the other hand has done everything it can to mitigate damage to the american people. it is proper for non-essential park personnel and services to be suspended it is clear that the lack of money does not mean that one park in america is required to close. including one member would need to be subpoenaed and talked to by the marshals. this is not the way we do business with any administration official. why does this barricade lincoln lamoille? why when i asked the police standing duty they are

personally do they tell me that every policeman that is on duty, they were essential and their job was to keep people out. i repeat that an open air monument was guarded by the same number of people to prevent americans from getting in as would allow them to safely go in and out on a daily basis. why were veterans turned away from the vietnam veterans memorial and why were on our flights initially told that they must cancel their planned desserts. why were members of the americans finest generation in their 80s and 90s turned away and told that they could not visit but would be undoubtedly in many cases there last time those monuments. whatever private businesses and nonprofits operating near parkway and shuttered and why did the park service spend money to stop commerce rather than spend no money and allow

commerce to go forward. why is the park service closing roads that run through parklands that could be used for local traffic and why would america ever expect that a public road necessary for egress and safety of a city and town in private residence ever be nonessential. we will hear from the director today whatever he wants to say to justify stopping the public from using a public road. i doubt that i will in fact agree with him, but i certainly would like to hear his statement for why, in fact, these punitive measures were taken that no savings to the american people. why is the shutdown so different. >> we are subject to authority.

>> rather than many facilities that successfully stayed open during this time without being closed. one anonymous park service ranger told the washington times that we have been told to make life as difficult for people as we can and it is disgusting. if true, and i have no reason to doubt. it is disgusting and ask a couple that the park service would do this. but director jarvis, you are not here for the first time. during sequestration we have found a pattern in someone so that they could live with existing staff that they had already had petitioned to discover sequestration and that wasn't good enough, they had to send him ultimate report. and many of your lieutenants found that they were almost punished for thinking and

advanced in preparing for possibility of that lower amount under sequestration. one of our park supervisors made it very clear that you would reinterpret the first amendment to include people sleeping in the parts, defecating online, creating a health hazard for the people of the district of colombia and would do nothing about it. you likened it to previous events rather than to people who were sleeping in the park. we disagreed with you then. and we disagree with you now. but i hope that today we will have a healthy dialogue that gives you an opportunity to tell us why you have performed under your leadership and has performed less well on behalf of the american people during the shutdown than the one that we had more than a decade ago. with that, i recognize our

ranking member. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i will start asking an obvious question. what in the world are we doing here. today is the 16th day since the speaker john boehner shutdown the united states government by simply allowing the house of representatives to vote or legislation to reopen the government. this bill has 30 passed the senate and has more than enough votes to pass the house. speaker boehner refuses to bring it to the house floor without the support of a majority of his own political party. in other words, he brought this bill to the house floor today and if he did so, it would pass with about two dozen republicans at most, if not all democrats. since he does not have the deep 1% of the republican party, he

refuses to allow any vote on this bill. and that is why we are still miss government shutdown. that is why people say that speaker john boehner is holding our country hostage. and that is why the american people blamed house republicans for shutting down the government. the approach puts the ideology of one political party ahead of the interests of our entire nation. even worse, this issue is not resolved, in the next few hours, we will begin defaulting on our debts. something our nation has never done before. as house republicans are a nation towards the fiscal cliff, credit rating agencies are warning of the full faith and credit of our nation is now at risk. and investors are dumping treasury bills. my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are truly concerned about the shutdown stop this

madness right now. let us bring the queen sent a bill to the house floor and let us pass it. we can still vote against it, but don't bring down our entire government is because you do not want to allow a vote. rather than allowing us to take this reasonable course of action, house republicans want to focus on restricted access to the world war ii memorial in washington dc. the world war ii memorial is a stunning and beautiful monument. but it has made in materials of marble and fountains. you know what the significant tribute to our veterans is and what really honors our nation's heroes for their services and sacrifices? providing them with the benefits that they earned after suffering

injuries in combat, paying them the pensions that they need to cover their rent and their utility bills and their food and guarantee the assistance that they rely on to stay off the streets and in some cases, to simply stay alive. that is how we make good on our promises to veterans. we take care of them like they took care of us. they gave their blood and sweat and their tears and in some instances all that they had. yesterday a coalition of 33 veterans groups held a rally at world war ii memorial and jerry augustine, director of the disabled american veterans explained the importance of these veterans across the country and this is what he said. for many, the payments may be the primary and only source of income, also an army veteran who

started both veterans.org after serving two tours in iraq said that if he lost both her legs in vietnam and you have prosthetics and yorke 100% disabled, you do not get a disability check because republicans have hijacked the government over obamacare. i will conclude by reading from a statement issued on october 3 by 2 of the most distinguished world war ii veterans ever to serve in congress. republican bob dole, senator bob dole and representative john dingell, who were both instrumental in creating the world war ii memorial, this is what they said, and i quote that as two proud world war ii veterans, blessed to serve this great nation in congress, we consider it a bipartisan work together in helping to create a national world war ii memorial

to be among our greatest accomplishments in a true honor to our brothers in arms. if this congress truly wishes to recognize the sacrifices of our world war ii veterans and all who have come after, it will end the shutdown and reopen our government now. the current shutdown has slowed the rate at which the government can process the veterans disability claims and is the va has stated, it is negatively impacting other services to our nation's veterans partial spending plans do not adequately ensure that our veterans and all americans have access to the system of government established to serve and protect the government. mr. chairman, we are out of time. i understand that the senate will make one more time this morning to resolve this issue on a bipartisan basis.

and i just hope and i pray that speaker john boehner will put our nation first. and he will put this bill on the floor and allow us to vote so that we can avert default and reopen our government afford it is too late. with that, i yield back. >> i think the gentleman and we now go to the chairman of the full committee on resources. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i would like to thank you and your staff for your cooperation as we put together this joint hearing. back to the issue at hand. the issue at hand is difficult as possible as the implementation of the government shutdown. to anyone trying to follow or make sense of the national park service's policies during this unfortunate government shutdown, i would say, good luck. the policy is have been arbitrary and inconsistent and

ever-changing. their actions appear to be motivated by two things. one, an attempt to make shutdowns is painful and visible as possible, and two because of the backlash, an attempt to squash the ensuing bad pr and that is no way to run a government agency and the way to treat the american people across the country who visit or live or work at our national parks. the actions of the obama administration have soured our great national parks system. in their most egregious act, they have erected barricades around open air parks and memorials to areas that are open 24/7, 365 days a year and this is in direct contradiction to what happened during the last government shutdown 17 years ago. the obama administration's barricading of these sides is not something that they are required to do, but something that they are choosing to do.

furthermore, the appearance of the highly visible sites, for example, the lincoln memorial and the world war ii memorial are barricaded. the people are currently free to walk around the washington dc world war i memorial, and the japanese-americans memorial, both open sites. thus far we have heard excuses from the obama administration ranging from trash collection and maintenance to securities concerns. yet one by one, it has been confirmed that these excuses are excuses and nothing more. the mayor of washington dc declared that they will to collect trash in the national parks around the city and as for security, but there are just as many individuals working on the along the national mall now as before the shutdown. so from my perspective there is no reason for these barricades.

and to add to that, the national park service reversal of policies has been even more confusing. for example, the administration realizes it's a mistake only after public pressure had been built. as a result, they agreed to allow world war ii veterans with the honor fight programs to visit the memorial and exercise their first amendment rights. while this is very good news for these veterans, it is not appropriate for the national parks service to be denying the same rights to others who want to visit these open air parks and memorials. this administration has also forced privately operated sites and businesses to close just because they happen to be located on public lands. these are businesses that don't receive a dime of taxpayer dollars to operate. but once again, after intense public and legal pressure, the parks service has suddenly allowed some of these websites

to reopen and others with no explanation, they remain close. i hope to hear from our witnesses today about why this was allowed to happen in the first place and what change prompted them to have a sudden reversal. in addition, the obama administration first refused to allow states to pay to keep national parks in their respective states open. but what has now become a a recurring theme, they suddenly change their mind after more than a week of public backlash. and i do want to point out that during the last government shutdown in 1995 and 1996, states were allowed to keep the national parks open and were later reimbursed by the federal government. there is absolutely no reason why it should be any different this time under this administration. erroneous claims that they may not be able to reimburse states simply defies history. and at today's hearing we expect

to get answers and get to the bottom of one and how all of these arbitrary decisions were made and by whom. the past 2.5 weeks have also raise broader questions about how the national park service is run. they should not be the only time that we take a look at how the park service operates and interacts with all states and counties and private businesses and private property owners. the committee on natural resources expects to continue its oversight of the park service's actions as we have with other federal land management agencies, and with akamai will yield back. >> i think the gentleman and we now go to the ranking member from oregon. >> i thank you, chairman. normally i begin by thanking my republican colleagues were holding a hearing and inviting witnesses to testify and important issues before the congress. that is not appropriate today.

the republican majority close down the federal government in a vain attempt to repeal or delay the affordable care act. obamacare, as they call it. well, with we are 15 days into a republican initiated government shutdown. and many are investigating why the national parks are shutdown and our nation is already threatened with a credit downgrade because republicans have linked the shutdown not the debt limit and could trigger the first default in our nations history. and here we are holding a hearing on why the republican government shutdown led to a shutdown of our national parks. instead of trying to prevent economic hardship, we are having a hearing that is at best nonsensical and i will spend my time talking about how this shutdown about nothing has kept countries out of refuges, loggers off of art lands end citizens out of her national

parks. when you decided to shut down the government over two weeks ago, did you forget the national parks system, which includes memorials, is part of the federal government and you knew that. but you apparently forgot the economic impact that our time apart having gateway communities and that the american people value their public lands and the solemn tribute of the world war ii and other war memorials. the title of this hearing is laughable, and as difficult as possible, the implementation of a government shutdown. if you want to spend your time here does talk about what monuments are open open and which are close, let me save you some time. our national parks system is surprisingly part of our national government, which you shutdown and i will demonstrate the republican side, i will show you who is responsible. right here, here you are. here's who's responsible for shutting down the national parks. and memorials.

the republican cause government shutdown is causing problems for public servants and yes, it is painful for every single american. and that is why we don't shut the government down on a year-to-year basis. this hearing is a sideshow and political theater. are we meeting to amplify the efforts of senator ted cruz, senator lee, sarah palin, where we really need to give a platform for a group of people cheering, when their leader said, american nonviolent revolution, using this to demand that he get up off his knees and figuratively come out with his hands up while others waving confederate flags, maybe the majority wants to give a megaphone to those groups like the competitive enterprise institute, they once called cleansing. really? that was cleansing?

you take them away and you give them back and you sell them. well, you can continue to engage in your irresponsible talk and try to make the park service at our park rangers the target of your own ineptitude and intransigence, but we are not going to play that game. i will yield the balance of my time to the representative. >> thank you, mr. defazio. let me just concurred that we seem to be here at this area functioning in an alternative universe. we have the republican majority that created this shutdown and the majority that can't manage the shutdown. and we have the republican majority and their leadership that cannot get us out of the shutdown. so what do we do? we have a hearing. he holds a people hearing to scapegoat director jarvis and blame him for the fact that they

can't cope with reality and the national park system is part of our government people. >> the senate is coming back in after the government shutdown. >> of the shutdown, or the responsibilities for that. [roll call] [roll call] >> i ask consent that when the senate completes its business, no business will be conducted on the following dates and times. thursday, october 17, until

12:15 p.m. and that the senate adjourned on october 24 until 2:00 p.m. on monday october 28 unless eight unless the senator receives a message from the house that he has adopted resolution 24, let the senator receives that such a message and we are expiring this general preceding in time for the two leaders to be reserved later in the day. and this will be allowed until 4:30 p.m. when the senators are allowed to speak at number three for four, richard griffin dinner e senate stands adjourned until thursday, october 17, unless it has received a message that the house has received s. con. res. house has received s. con. res.

>> after the senate and the house passed measure this the measure this evening. the white house says that federal employees should expect a return to work in the morning. before all this happened, there was a hearing on capitol hill on the closings of the national parks with the president present shutdown. we are going back to that now.

>> we are talking about the park service plans and what we need to realize is that the shutdown has illustrated that there is a better way and that better way is the involvement of the state and local governments and the management of more public lands so that this kind of situation does not necessarily have to happen. what we need is to look forward and not. what i find it is so frustrating and due respect is that the situation at which we find ourselves is not unique to the shutdown. this has been happening for those of us who live out west for years. when the park service harms outfitters and guides by insisting that their insurance payments have to go up from a one to a 5 million-dollar policy, prohibiting them from having a new issue, one a park in washington demands an annual church picnic in concert for veterans because the noise that would be established would be too loud for the cultural and

historic aspects of the rest of the park, when the park service personnel says a murder victim in the vatican cannot be found in the family wants to hire somebody to go in and look, and it takes some 15 months to raise the money to pay for this permit, and then they go in and find the body within two hours after the park service said it was impossible for an air force staff sergeant who was drowned stranded the same park and the park service refuses to allow underwater recovery to go in and find the body and it takes 10 months for them to get a lawyer and go to court and then when it's allowed them within a matter of days. when on a wild and scenic recreation river, they've been paddling in order so that the only thing that you can do for recreation is finished watching. the park service with a

statement about the keystone pipeline being in danger to its parkland and the closest land is 30 miles away. what we have found is that there is a pattern not just in the shutdown, but one that has recurred year after year and has been exacerbated in the last few. i find that disgusting and disheartening, to say the least. there is a better late way in the states have stood up and shown that they can be better managers of the land and if we really want to have a long-range policy for public lands in the future, we must incorporate cooperation and allow them to have a greater say in the management of our public lands. federalism is the solution to our problems and it may even be the salvation of this country. i think the gentleman from washington and ideal back. >> now go to the gentlelady from the district of colombia, an area very much affected by the shutdown for five minutes. >> the district of colombia is a double whammy victim of the

shutdown. it is like voting for capital punishment and then blaming them as executions proceed. locally the district cannot meet the payment coming up for charter schools without pay for disabled children and group homes because our local funds are held here, this in addition to the national parks which fund our tourist economy and that has collapsed. so the local funds shouldn't even be here, and certainly our local economy is dependent upon the opening of all of our manna meant that should now be collapsed because republicans have shutdown the federal government a night you'll do the remainder time to mr. holden. >> i think the gentlelady. earlier this morning i spoke with my 100-year-old mother and she asked me what we would be doing today in congress. and i said that i was going to hope to find that the republican

side found some backbone and got their act together to get the government operating. and she said it's not like you're going to have a long day. well, over the last two weeks, the republicans seem surprised to find out that the federal government actually does things to help people. but they can't agree on what to do about it. so today they found something that they can agree on, which is blaming someone else for what they have done. so the federal government does perform very tangible functions. and when it is disrupted and they disrupting an abrupt way, you know, you find people affected in ways that were not predicted. the solution is quite simple. they could bring a vote to the

house this morning and it would pass and everything would be fixed in the barricades would be down and the hard-working members would be back to work. >> mr. conrad, i yield my time to mr. conrad. >> i thank the gentleman. we are in a novel. the federal government shutdown in the brink of the first default in the credit worthiness of the united states. and we will have a hearing because he shutdown the national parks after the republican majority shut down the national government. imagine their shock that there would be consequences that their favorite place to picnic is closed. and that the national park service is in fact enforcing it and we saw that shameful moment where a member of the republican

caucus actually created a national park service ranger for doing her job. and this is a crazy moment and the solution is not to have a hearing to pillory someone for doing his job but to reopen this government without condition to avoid default without condition and get on with the business of governance before we destroy all confidence in this legislative body. and with that, i yield to my colleague. thank you, very much. i wonder how many republicans really thought about the far-reaching effects of the shutdown. nationwide, the shutdown has furloughed than 20,000 national park service employees and 21 of them which work for it pacific national has four historic park

in guam, a small island in the pacific and i wonder how many thought about that. only two employees remain there to provide security and emergency services and we have 600 visitors daily. the shutdown has negatively impacted the tourism economy for something that could've been avoided entirely by the passing of a queen cr and we have failed in this congress, our park service employees and our nation, and i have made this point repeatedly and will continue to do so until this republican-led shutdown is completed on a wall and my remarks by saying let's shut down the shutdown. and i yield my time to representative tsongas. >> thank you, director, for appearing before the committee today and as you know, my district is home to two great national parks and i know firsthand how devastating the shutdown has been for our local economy and for hundreds of

schoolchildren who haven't had access to the parks and who are dedicated park employees that have been furloughed. >> the gentlelady time is expired. please conclude that i think that if you really care about opening the national parks and putting our government workers back to work, that we should have a vote today on a clean cr that would fund the government and avoid a default. >> i think the gentlelady. all members have seven days to submit opening statements for the record. and as i recognize the panel, i would admonish all members of the house rules prohibit, questioning the intent or character of a number of house and senate individuals. so as we go through this, you may quote from the statements made. but the intent of a member or adverse attend is not admissible. additionally i ask consent that the usa today article from last

night, the gop asks why were the national parks shutdown and without objection, so ordered and we now recognize our panel of witnesses. mr. greg bryan is mayor of dc on end claude moore colonial farm and mr. jonathan jarvis is director of the national parks service and ms. lisa simon is the president of the national tourist association and mr. myron abele is director of energy and global warming policy at the competitive enterprise institute and mr. denis galvin is a member of the board of trustees and the national association pursuant to the

rules of the oversight committee, i would ask that all members rise and raise your right hand and be sworn in. >> use only swear or affirm that the testimony is the truth and the whole truth and nothing but your. >> we do. >> please be seated and let the record reflect that all witnesses answered in the affirmative. we have a large panel today on both sides and in order to allow time i ask that you limit your opening statements to five minutes and your entire opening record plus any other submissions you think are pertinent to your testimony to be placed in the record. with that, i recognize the mayor. >> thank you, chairman i said..

thank you. and i would also like to recognize your assistance in many ways as well. i come before you today wearing two hats. i am the mayor of our small town of 558 people, three years old, arizona's newest community and also the manager of a rather nice hotel. we are located on the southern boundaries of the grand canyon national parks. we exist because the national park brings 4.5 million people a year to visit it. without the park being there, there is no reason for community and we are a tourism industry that is dependent upon the tourism industry and without that park being open, we are basically shut down. we have a good relationship with our parks and we appreciate our superintendent and his team and we recognize that those workers and rangers are there because

they choose to serve and share this beautiful and wonderful resource and we know that the shutdown has impacted them in many ways, as well as in our community and we recognize that relationship and want to protect the relationship. at the same time we feel like we have sincerely been impacting these decisions to close down the government. and our national park. the month of october is a very wonderful month, a beautiful month to be the grand canyon and we started off with 90 plus percent occupancy at the end of september for reservations on the books ready to come. the least in one hotel. we are in the low 40% and dropping. we have lost over $400,000 in

one place alone. the impact to our community has been in the millions of dollars within a very short matter of time. and all of this because elected members of congress and the president cannot come to grips with passing and getting a budget going. in the meantime, in the front lines we feel kind of like we are the ball bouncing back and forth and the ones that are paying the bill. and suddenly our source of business and income for our little community is closed as of october 1 and we immediately began to ask questions with regards to how we can do it come out with the darker crack open and in 1995, the same thing happen within a reasonably short period of time, there was an agreement between the department of interior and our governor.

that application and policy could then easily put into place and we don't understand why it wasn't. it could then pulled out and dusted off and changed and be applied. we went out and asked to put up funds in a short time in our little town of 550 people put up $200,000 out of our coffers as a community. within a few more days we had well over $200,000 committed from business communities and our area and also across the state. we were willing to put up and fund expenses at no cost to the national parks to keep the portions of the park open and we were not asking for a full opening but a partial opening. that the primary conduit to the national park that comes up from my 40, it a connection between albuquerque and los angeles,

rvs, our connection of highway 64 runs through the town and turns east to connect with 589, which goes into many other national parks and monuments. the first couple of days it was left open, we faced the superintendent before that. but the plan that was used was doomed to fail from the beginning. we were allowing people to traverse through the park and everything else was closed but the parking spaces alongside the road were barricaded. it's kind of like offering a piece of candy to someone and saying that you cannot open it. you cannot open it. they will find a way and the frustration was there. therefore the buses, the tour buses and rvs and personal cars for parking either on the shoulders or the roads to take a look at this great and magnificent world heritage site and we understand that and we agree with the superintendent because it was unsafe. we feel and we had offered that

the sheriff's department would have had concurrent jurisdiction inside the park and offered to help patrol and keep things safe. opening up the parking spaces and allowing people to least view, to offer to put up for the parties to help keep things reasonably clean. we were told no. when we asked what wide, we talked about not applying the agreement in 1995 and it was against the national park service policies. we never quite got it clear. we were told that either all the parks opened were none of the parks opened. and we have concerns about that. we believe that when a national park is closed, the individuals in the community, if they are offered to help and support, that they ought to be able to do this. we appreciate the work of governor jennifer will reopen

the park and we were ecstatic last saturday morning with a beautiful blue sky open up the grand canyon national park for business again. we look forward to having some changes after the shutdown is done when we come back to you and request this with regard to clarify a policy that says that we are a community that wants to stand up and take responsibility and be accountable when the government won't pay the bills. and we think the policy should be clarified to allow that take place and i can tell you from being on the frontlines that when you have a family come in from south africa or australia or brazil or china, in many cases trying to bring their children here to experience that, you have to tell them at 7:00 o'clock at night after they have driven all the that way that you can get into the national park, you cannot see it. well, why not. and with tears streaming down the children's face, we have to

tell them because the government has shut down. we need to find different ways to handle this and we would really appreciate time afterwards to talk about potential for the future to allow a national park to be assisted and covered by local communities. we thank you. >> thank you. thank you, mayor. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you for the information. i am honored to be here and i am the managing director and representing a staff of volunteers and visitors here. the farm shows the life of a poor family in 1771 struggling to survive while the fight for freedom is growing around them. it is also a privately operated unit of the george washington memorial parkway and i have been involved with the farm since 1972, first as a volunteer and

then as an employee to help establish this in 1973. due to the national park funding in 1981, the public programs have been eliminated and subsequently the farm became privately operated by friends of the farm. at the same time i resigned my service to manage the funds and have been there ever since. i came here today because i thought it might not only help the farm that maybe even help other groups like us along with many other national park partners that have been severely affected by the recent closing of our site due to the government shutdown. fortunately we were allowed to reopen on wednesday of last week, but most others have not been so lucky and we still don't know why we were close, nor do we know why we were allowed to open a week later. the farm has never been included in the government shutdown and

there're no park service employees at the farm, nor have there been since 1981. during the previous shut down almost 20 years ago, it made sense that the personnel could not be paid to staff the parks and that the parks couldn't open. no one was happy about that, but the people understood. this time they chose to close the base to the public that don't depend on the personnel and that included us in fairfax county and the scenic overlooks on the north end of the parkway and of course, the closing of the memorials on the national mall. i realize in the proverbial heat of battle, someone could make decisions that have unintended consequences. but wasn't anyone watching the news and couldn't someone have come forward and admitted that they made a huge mistake? is the managing director of the farm, i have had to deal with people there that are unhappy and i had a choice. i can be defensive, or i can immediately reach out and say that i am so sorry that you are

experienced at the farm wasn't perfect. how can we make this right, and how can we make sure that we never do it again. within a few e-mails or phone calls, that person has now become a friend of ours and not an enemy. i can't bring myself to do that, then i shouldn't great country and be the director of the farm. i don't know who is responsible for the national park service's action this time. it was the white house, the department of interior, in the park service acted on their own or maybe no one is in charge there. but the results looks foolish and then at and not worthy of managing the men's natural and cultural resources entrusted to them. by the park was shenandoah in virginia. one of the very few unspoiled natural areas close to lots of other people. october is the month out of the entire year that everyone goes to look at the leaves. the people who work for

concessions in the park and the businesses that depend on this area are in terrible trouble and their season is basically over by the end of the weekend. virginia acquired much of the land and give it to the federal government to become part of the national parks system and i'm sure that there are people who are in richmond now who are saying if you can't open it, maybe we can. ..